novelraw Chapter 229 : That Ninth Realm Lunatic
Chapter 229 : That Ninth Realm Lunatic
Chapter 229: That Ninth Realm Lunatic
Chu Huaixu's only impression of the three words “Southward Sunlight” was from a verse by Cao Zhi:
——“I wish to become the Southward Sunlight, racing to meet my Lord.”
Later on, those three words gradually came to be regarded as an elegant reference to the sun.
However, many disciples of the Gentleman Temple were granted two-character Dao Seals, and thus could use it as a Dao title without sounding awkward or strange.
But “Daoist Southward Sunlight”? That was a bit odd.
“‘Southward Sunlight’ refers to the sun.”
“In other words, wouldn’t I now be called… Sun Daoist?”
He mocked himself inwardly while gazing at the three golden characters in his palm, and felt rather satisfied.
As for why the Dao Ancestor granted him “Southward Sunlight” and granted Han Shuangjiang “Return to True Origin”, perhaps there was a deeper meaning behind it.
——“Discern right and wrong to hold to justice; cherish goodness to command the power to kill.”
“So this final trial in the Dao Ancestor Inheritance Secret Realm... was actually a psychological test?” Chu Huaixu muttered to himself with some uncertainty.
He glanced back, recalling each of the previous trials.
The first trial seemed to test the mind—tormenting one’s will and consciousness.
The second trial, filled with mechanical puppets, during which Han Shuangjiang had even been injured, tormented the body and bones, and when soaking in the medicinal bath, it even tortured one’s meridians.
The third trial was about comprehending the sword—not merely testing talent, but also imposing hunger, thirst, a sense of urgency, and the threat of death.
The fourth trial, upon entering the illusion, reduced him to an ordinary Dao Gate disciple—stripped of all magical treasures, strength, and divine abilities—and used the Demon-Slaying event to test one’s mindset and conduct.
As Chu Huaixu connected the dots, he suddenly froze.
“Was that… just a coincidence?” he wondered.
Because these four trials combined reminded him of a certain saying:
“【First one must torment their mind and will, exhaust their muscles and bones, starve their flesh, leave them impoverished, and disrupt their every endeavor!】”
And Han Shuangjiang was the World Protagonist—her identity perfectly matched the first part of that saying:
——“【Thus, when Heaven is about to entrust a person with a great responsibility…】”
Chu Huaixu’s gaze narrowed slightly as his thoughts raced.
In fact, even the subsequent Dao Seal rewards seemed to follow a complementary pattern.
Rather than bolstering strengths and avoiding weaknesses, the Dao Seals served to mend their shortcomings.
This coincidentally aligned with the latter half of that same saying:
——“【…it first tempers their heart and will, builds their endurance, and strengthens what they once lacked.】”
“What are you thinking about?” Big Ice Block noticed his contemplative look and asked aloud.
“Nothing much, maybe I’m just overthinking,” Chu Huaixu said with a wave of his hand.
Qingming Mountain lay ten thousand miles from the Dao Gate.
Dressed still in the garb of a scholar, Cheng Yuyan was seated across from an elder, sipping tea.
As the leader of the 【Divergent Path】, and a grand cultivator at the Ninth Realm, he was unexpectedly the one brewing tea for the old man beside him.
That elder was thin—so thin that he seemed shriveled.
His skin appeared wrinkled and sagging.
Moreover, he seemed to be blind.
In the Xuanhuang Realm, eye ailments were hardly difficult to resolve at high cultivation levels.
Even certain Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures could substitute for sight. Losing one’s eyeballs wasn’t considered a major issue.
Yet this elder remained blind.
A blind man at the peak of the Eighth Realm.
After sipping the tea Cheng Yuyan had poured, the elder spoke: “Chu Huaixu and Han Shuangjiang should be emerging from the Dao Ancestor Secret Realm soon.”
The scholar, nicknamed Scholar Cheng, was stunned. “Chu Huaixu?”
“Elder Ming, are you saying Chu Huaixu also entered the Secret Realm?”
“But didn’t you say earlier that only Han Shuangjiang entered?”
The elder named Ming Xuanji waved his hand and calculated again with his fingers, then said, “I just divined that someone else appeared in the secret realm. Fate has shifted again.”
“I don’t know how Chu Huaixu entered, but that is the result. Fate has once again been altered because of him.”
Cheng Yuyan looked at him and asked, “Elder Ming, even now you persist in your belief—that all is predestined, that everyone has their own fate?”
Ming Xuanji nodded. “Though variables continue to appear, changing many fated paths, the altered path still leads to the predestined end. The destination has changed, that’s all.”
“Then what meaning is there in calling it predestined?” Cheng Yuyan challenged.
If fate changes, how can it still be called destiny?
Ming Xuanji merely shook his head and replied, “If I can still divine it, then a destined end still exists.”
“It is only when I can no longer divine anything that a true variable has changed fate.”
Cheng Yuyan mulled over those words and more or less understood.
There was indeed a certain logic to it.
The old man continued calculating, then suddenly made a surprised sound.
“So Chu Huaixu will also receive the Dao Ancestor’s Seal?”
“Hm? What characters did the Dao Ancestor bestow?” Cheng Yuyan’s interest was piqued.
With a wave of Ming Xuanji’s hand, a piece of paper and a brush appeared on the table.
He picked up the brush, paused, calculated with his left hand, and first wrote: 【Return to True Origin】.
“This is what Han Shuangjiang received. These three characters have never changed.”
“Whether or not Chu Huaixu entered the secret realm, she would have received these three characters.”
“She inherited Yan Shen’s legacy and comprehended the Reincarnation Sword Intent. These three characters were likely left for her by the Dao Ancestor a thousand years ago,” Ming Xuanji said.
Cheng Yuyan clicked his tongue in admiration. “【Return to True Origin】 and 【Reincarnation Sword Intent】? That’s indeed a match.”
“But as far as I know, the three-character Dao Seal is something only the Temple Master of each generation of the Gentleman Temple receives.”
“Yan Shen was the second-generation Temple Master and founder of the Reincarnation Path. Her bestowed Seal wasn’t ‘Return to True Origin.’”
“Legend has it hers was 【Water Cloud Body】.”
Those empty eyes of the elder looked ahead as he replied calmly, “Yan Shen had no need for a seal like ‘Return to True Origin.’”
“In fact, the Dao Ancestor’s bestowed seals may well be a way to guide others toward their destined conclusion,” Ming Xuanji suddenly said.
Cheng Yuyan opened his mouth to speak, but eventually chose not to.
Then the elder picked up his brush again, and his brow furrowed as he clicked his tongue.
“To think he’d give him these three characters?”
He wrote: 【Southward Sunlight】.
Cheng Yuyan had studied extensively since childhood and had real scholarly credentials before he turned to cultivation.
Naturally, he knew that “Southward Sunlight” referred to the sun in the sky.
He was briefly stunned. He hadn’t expected the Dao Ancestor to hold Chu Huaixu in such high regard.
But…
Cheng Yuyan turned to Ming Xuanji and said, “Elder Ming, you’ve always said the Dao Ancestor foresaw everything a thousand years ago, and that you’ve divined half of it.”
“But if Chu Huaixu is the variable you keep mentioning, why would the Dao Ancestor leave a seal for him in advance?”
Ming Xuanji waved his hand. “No, no. The Dao Ancestor harnessed the power of all things and left behind three thousand Dao Seals.”
“No one knows exactly what those three thousand forces are.”
“It just so happened that he fit these three characters, so he received them.”
“The Dao Ancestor only divined Han Shuangjiang and Xu Ziqing, and those connected to them. As for the rest, it’s all about fate. After all, the Dao follows nature.”
Cheng Yuyan understood.
“Southward Sunlight” was one of the three thousand Dao Seals, but it hadn’t been left specifically for Chu Huaixu.
Because he was the variable.
Ming Xuanji had never divined him, and thus believed the Dao Ancestor hadn’t either.
Otherwise, why had so many of the Dao Ancestor’s arrangements and safeguards been repeatedly disrupted by this one man?
The old man took a sip of hot tea.
His empty eyes gazed forward as he said, “If the chance arises, I would still choose to restore order.”
The “chaos” he referred to clearly meant Chu Huaixu.
If the original ending was already good, why change it?
Since it was already a good ending, the variable became unnecessary—perhaps even meddlesome.
His very existence continually changed the direction of the outcome.
Cheng Yuyan laughed while pouring himself tea. “If I never meet him, it won’t matter. But if I happen to encounter him, that boy Chu Huaixu… I’ll protect him.”
“Elder Ming, you know I owe the Dao Gate a favor.”
Ming Xuanji turned his head. His hollow eyes faced him. Upon hearing that familiar phrase, his face showed a smile that was not quite a smile.
Outside the Cold Pool, atop Medicine Mountain at the Dao Gate.
Xiang Yan and the others had all flown here, awaiting Chu Huaixu and Han Shuangjiang’s return from the secret realm.
About one incense-stick’s time later, the pair emerged from within.
The gains from their journey were immense. Inside and out, they had been significantly elevated.
The rewards from each trial had been generous. Taken as a whole, those four trials had greatly enhanced their overall strength.
The Dao Gate’s senior members immediately gathered, carefully observing the pair of young Dao Companions.
The lively Chu Yinyin blurted out, “Chu Huaixu! Han Shuangjiang! Hurry, show me your Dao Ancestor Seals!”
She was simply too curious—what kind of power did these three-character Seals contain?
Han Shuangjiang’s 【Return to True Origin】 didn’t surprise anyone too much.
But Chu Huaixu’s 【Southward Sunlight】 caused a momentary pause among the crowd.
Listening to his explanation, everyone felt this seal was quite extraordinary.
Then, the hands clasped behind Jiang Zhi’s back began to tremble slightly, occasionally jerking uncontrollably.
Everyone glanced at one another, and eventually all eyes landed on Jiang Zhi.
“Chu Huaixu… I wonder how much power you can manifest from that seal at your current cultivation,” Jiang Zhi said, his voice quivering slightly.
“In a bit, come with me. I’ll take you to meet someone.”
Dao Seal: 【Southward Sunlight】 – Banishes evil and dispels darkness, eliminates karmic obstacles and purifies heart demons. Its light nurtures all beings—can revive the dead and regrow flesh on bones.
None present knew how much of its power Chu Huaixu could currently unleash.
Nor did they know whether this three-character seal left by the Dao Ancestor had its own limitations.
But if—if—
Everyone agreed: it was worth testing.
The world believed that the Dao Gate had only Jiang Zhi left as a Ninth Realm cultivator. After his fall in realm, the Dao Gate had no Ninth Realm experts remaining.
But the truth?
Within the Gentleman Temple—there was still one Ninth Realm lunatic locked away!